Miscommunications
by haveyounomercy
Summary: AU Horio and Tomoka seemed to have a never-ending list of miscommunications. They were soon to find out that sometimes, a miscommunication is a beautiful thing. One-shot, HorioxTomoka.


**A/N It's been a while since I've written het, and this is the longest one-shot I've ever written by far. The pairing is HorioxTomoka, with a side of EchizenxSakuno. I hope your eyes don't bleed too much.**

**This is an AU fic, based around Echizen's (who is rich) mansion, and the butlers and maids there. **

**I tried to make Horio and Tomoka more human, so if you could tell me if I succeeded it would be a great help. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: Let's be reasonable now, shall we?**

* * *

"Quick, it's almost time!" The huge mansion, as always, was bustling with people scurrying around, whispering frantically. Why, you ask? Of course, it was the young master Echizen Ryoma's dinnertime.

"What's taking so long?" Horio, the head butler, almost screamed into the kitchen. "Katsuo, Kachirou, pick up the pace!" For a head butler, he was bothered quite easily. Well, it was only fair, since he had just 2 years of experience.

"Stop your yammering, we only got the imports a few hours ago, it'll be fine in a minute!" Tomoka, the head maid, slapped the side of Horio's head.

Horio blushed, for wherever Tomoka was…

"Tomo-chan, aren't you a bit jittery as well?" A shy voice stammered.

…Sakuno was sure to follow.

"You all know how Echizen-san hates having his dinners even a second late! And of course, I'm always the one he gives hell for it!" Horio shouted back.

"Well, then I'll go in your stead!" Tomoka spat out. "Kachirou, Katsuo, Ryoma-sama can't wait forever!" She yelled into the kitchen moments later.

"You're always contradicting yourself!" Horio huffed.

"Well it's better than you; who's always conceited, just because you're head butler!" Tomoka responded angrily.

"Yeah, well I have-"

"I know; _you have two years of experience_." Tomoka cut him off, mimicking him. "So what? No one cares!"

"I'll have you know Echizen-san picked me out of many eligible people!" Horio crossed his arms in front of his chest childishly.

"I'll have you know that I peeked at your resume, and you lied in practically every second thing!" Tomoka put her hands on her hips.

"There they go again." Katsuo muttered.

"Do they ever stop?" Kachirou sighed.

"What do you want?" The two mentioned both snapped at the same time, turning their heads towards the flour covered duo. "Are you finished yet?" Was the next thing they asked in sync.

"Eh, Sakuno-chan's already taken the plates up to Echizen-san…" Kachirou pointed at the sight of long brown braids bobbing up and down traveling up the staircase.

"Look what you did; you made Sakuno-chan carry it all by herself!" Tomoka glared at Horio.

"Well I wouldn't if you weren't arguing with me!" Horio defended.

"Oh please, you started it!" Tomoka rolled her eyes and stomped towards the staircase, calling out, "Sakuno! I'll help you!"

"Tomoka's such a nice friend…" Katsuo said as he cleaned dishes in the kitchen.

"Yeah right, she just wants to go see Echizen-san." Horio, who was helping, huffed. "_Ryoma-sama!_" He mimicked angrily.

"What about Sakuno-chan? She seems pretty infatuated with him also." Kachirou asked while putting the semi-clean dishes into the dishwasher.

Ah, Sakuno. Horio smiled. He had had a crush on her for so long, that sweet girl. Her smile, though rare, was adorable, and…

"What?" He roared. "Sakuno likes Echizen-san?"

"Isn't obvious?" Katsuo raised an eyebrow.

"No! What makes you say that?" Horio furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, she's always blushing around him; she jumps every time he's near her; she reserves her smile for only him and Tomoka…" Katsuo counted on his fingers.

"She…" Horio stuttered, dumbstruck. "She likes Echizen-san?" He echoed. His spirit plummeted, his hopes crushed. There was no way he could ever compete with Echizen.

"Why don't you cheer her on instead of beating yourself up?" Kachirou suggested after a few minutes of Horio's whining. "Ever heard the saying 'If you love something, let it free'?" He frowned. "Except you didn't have her from the beginning, but you get my drift, right?"

"That's right!" Horio threw down his dish rag. "I shall be a noble and kind man!" He nodded to himself. "How great I am, being so self-sacrificing!" He marched out of the kitchen, his head spinning with egoism.

"Kachirou, do you think he even liked Sakuno-chan?" Katsuo asked curiously, watching Horio's retreating back.

"Just wait until tomorrow, when the egoism has worn off." Kachirou responded.

"I hope it doesn't hit him too hard." Katsuo said worriedly.

* * *

"Good morning." Horio sat down in the staff quarters' kitchen.

"Horio, what did you do last night?" Katsuo questioned as he slid Horio some eggs and bacon. He looked at Horio's tired face, crumpled suit and baggy eyes disapprovingly.

"Katsuo…" Kachirou warned, not finishing his sentence.

"Oh." Katsuo realized. "It's not that bad, I'm sure." He smiled apologetically.

"Whatever." Horio glared gloomily.

"Kachirou, Katsuo, what did the cat drag in last night?" Tomoka arrived, and sat across from Horio. "You really do look ready for your job, Mr. Head butler." She frowned at him.

"Shut up." Horio muttered. Arguing with Tomoka was the last thing he needed that morning. The only thing that could make this morning worse was…

"G-good morning, everyone." All the males in the room flinched.

"Hey, Sakuno!" Tomoka began chatting excitedly with her best friend.

"I'm going to go wake up Echizen-san." Horio mumbled dully as he rose from his chair.

"Oh no you don't." Tomoka was up as well in a flash. "Not looking like that. You come with me." She dragged him out of the kitchen, leaving the others dumbfounded, mouths wide open.

"Where are you taking me?" Horio found he didn't have the strength to stop him from being dragged around.

"Why do you look like a half-dead racoon?" Tomoka countered.

They finally got to Tomoka's room. After making sure he would stay put, she went inside and dug around in her room. She emerged with a lint roller.

"You can't possibly expect to do anything like this." She reprimanded as she took all the dust from his suit. "Your suit is filthy. Give it to me tonight so I can wash it."

"Okay." Horio, somehow, started feeling a bit more pumped up for his day. Maybe it had to do with him not being around Sakuno, maybe it had to do with him realizing he really didn't care as deeply about her as he did, or maybe it was because of Tomoka.

Dismissing the last thought from his head, he frowned. What had made that squirm into there? He had known Tomoka for a long time, and had never felt anything towards her.

"…So go wash your face with this." Tomoka finished her speech, handing him some face energizer cream.

"Okay." Horio just followed her directions dumbly, not listening. He had too much to sort in his mind.

"You still look like a ratty old man, but I guess it'll have to do." Tomoka sighed. "Now, get to waking up Ryoma-sama. He needs to get up instead of lazing around all day. Tell him he has a tennis match today." She pushed him forwards, her hands firmly planted on his back.

"Yeah yeah, I know." Horio yawned one last time before pushing himself away from Tomoka and walking by himself. "After all, I _am _the head butler." He bragged.

"How could I have forgotten?" Tomoka just rolled her eyes.

"Oh shut up." Horio left to go up the stairs. Throughout the entire day though, he could still feel a ghostly pressure on his back. It was almost like he missed the feeling.

He pinched himself, annoyed. What ridiculous things was he thinking about? Shaking his head, he kept on working.

* * *

"And finally when I thought they were getting closer…" Katsuo sighed, chopping vegetables. From inside the kitchen he could hear Tomoka and Horio bickering.

"You think they're okay?" Kachirou fretted. "They sound really into it this time." A loud angry yell pierced their ears.

"Shh!" Katsuo shushed just as the door slammed open and Horio marched in angrily, muttering curses under his breath.

"So, what's up, Horio-kun?" Kachirou asked nervously.

Horio responded by loudly cutting the vegetables with a murderous intent.

"What happened?" Kachirou whispered to Katsuo.

"I'm not sure, but it had to be big." Katsuo whispered back.

"Kachirou! Katsuo!" Tomoka's voice pierced their thoughts. "Stop talking and get to work!" Tomoka entered the kitchen. "We're running behind schedule!" She called out impatiently.

Walking towards Horio, she picked up the bowl of sliced carrots beside him.

"Who cut these? They're horrible and untidy!" Completely ignoring Horio, she took a carrot and knife of her own and began fractically chopping carrots.

Horio, taking this as a challenge, matched her pace. It soon became a battle of carrot chopping, both ignoring each other while knives hit cutting boards loudly and quickly.

"We don't even need carrots for the dinner tonight…" Katsuo murmured.

"They can have salad for their dinner. Come on, it's obvious that we're going to get nowhere if we disrupt them. Besides, Echizen-san will throw a fit if we don't get to him on time." Kachirou sighed, and went away.

"I wonder what made them both so mad…" Katsuo pondered as he too left them alone.

* * *

_10 minutes earlier_

Horio couldn't keep but notice how desperate Tomoka had become over the past week. With every chance she got, she called out "Ryoma-sama!" at the top of her lungs, and snatched all opportunities to go visit him and talk to him.

For some reason, this made Horio's blood boil.

He chalked it off as him being angry that she was pushing Sakuno further away from Echizen, and because he wanted Sakuno to achieve her wishes, he disapproved of this behaviour. It was like she was throwing herself at him.

Disgusted, he told Tomoka that if she continued ignoring her best friend to throw herself at Echizen in that undignified manner, she was going to go to hell.

So maybe he overreacted. But he was angry, and he was Horio. He was too proud to take back his words.

Her response had been to punch him in the chest, and angrily declare that he was a pompous, assuming bastard. She told him she wasn't throwing aside Sakuno at all. In fact, it was more like she was helping her.

Horio had scoffed. He had asked Tomoka if she took him for a fool.

Tomoka had replied that with that face, anyone would.

Both of them too proud to look away, too angry to apologize, too stubborn to look at it from the other's point of view, began a round of insults.

Then a staring showdown came to place.

Finally, Horio had stomped into the kitchen. And after a minute of muttering to herself, Tomoka followed him.

* * *

"Damn her. I don't need her, she doesn't need me, she doesn't care for anyone except herself." Horio had clenched his fist, unable to sleep.

He couldn't really explain to himself why he was more angry at her obsession with Echizen than about how she was pushing Sakuno away.

In fact, he furrowed his eyebrows when he figured out he hadn't thought about Sakuno since a while, other than when he was angry at Tomoka.

Come to think of it, did he ever really think of Sakuno before? Had it just been a small-time crush?

Horio rolled around in his bed uneasily. Now was not the time to think about love. Tomorrow Echizen was going to meet potential love interests. After all, he couldn't live his life like this forever.

Besides, his father wanted grandchildren.

Maybe if Echizen found a wife during the meetings tomorrow, Tomoka would stop being so annoying, he thought.

He didn't notice until the next morning that all his thoughts that night had been of Tomoka.

* * *

"Good morning." Horio sat down at the table, looking very tired and un-rested.

He glanced across the table, where a tired Tomoka sat. She stared lifelessly at her cereal.

Sitting next to him, Sakuno wore a sad face. Probably because she didn't want Echizen to meet all those women.

Horio felt a tinge of sadness for Sakuno, but when he looked at Tomoka, he felt a rush of mixed feelings. Not knowing if he wanted to take his time and inspect all these emotions one by one, he finished his toast quickly and left.

Kachirou and Katsuo couldn't keep their worried expressions to themselves. They stared at each other, and then at the other two girls. Their broken staff members were so far apart from each other it was like they hadn't known each other in the first place.

* * *

Weeks passed. Horio had finally gotten over the initial shock of Echizen blatantly refusing every woman he met in her face within minutes of the meetings.

Then the incident happened.

"Eh, excuse me…" Sakuno's head had poked into the room. "Would you like some more tea?"

"Yes." Echizen had responded.

"O-okay." Sakuno walked forward, but was grabbed by Echizen.

"Yes. This one will do." Echizen, standing up, had turned around to smirk at Horio. "You can cancel all the other meetings, I've made up my mind." And with that, he left, dragging a blushing and stammering Sakuno out of the room.

After Horio picked up his senses again, he got to work. For some reason, he didn't mind that Echizen had chosen Sakuno.

In fact, the thing that seemed to bother him was what Tomoka's expression would be after she found out.

When he finally finished everything, he crept downstairs. He found Echizen gone, and Tomoka and Sakuno alone in the hallway.

He caught himself smiling as he saw Tomoka wrap Sakuno in a big hug. It had been so long he had seen that smile.

Horio narrowed his eyes and shook his head. He had to get these strange thoughts out of his head. Maybe he was lacking sleep.

Yeah, that was the reason why he desperately missed Tomoka's lint roller.

* * *

"Horio. Come here." Horio, a few weeks later, was called into the dining room where Sakuno and Echizen were sharing their meal.

"Yes, Echizen-san?" He walked up to the two, who were standing there, both looking through some wedding plans.

"Here." Echizen, without warning, pushed Sakuno forward, and with a yelp of surprise, she found herself locking lips with Horio.

"What the hell?" Horio, instantly pushing Sakuno away, wiped his mouth.

"Eh?" Sakuno, bright red, looked at Echizen confusingly.

"Did you feel anything?" Echizen stared at Horio with a smirk.

"No! Why would I?" Horio, confused, furrowed his eyebrows.

"What if the one you kissed was Tomoka?" Echizen raised his eyebrows.

"Wha-what?" It was now Horio;s turn to become bright red. "Don't joke around, Echizen-san!" His heart pounded, with fury, he presumed.

"Exactly." Echizen answered. "I think you made a mistake, Horio. What you thought was a crush on my fiancée was actually a crush on Tomoka."

His words hit Horio like a ten-pound brick. How? How did Echizen come to that conclusion?

He thought back to all the times he had blushed, all the times his heart pounded around Sakuno.

He noticed something. In every image, in every memory, Tomoka was there as well. Had he directed his feelings to the wrong person all along?

Echizen smirked at the expression of recognition on Horio's face.

"Another thing." He coughed; getting Horio out of is stupor. "Whenever Tomoka came to talk to me, it was about Sakuno. Sakuno this, Sakuno that. She practically forced me to think about Sakuno day and night." He chuckled.

This, as well, hit Horio with a sickening thud. His stomach churned.

"So, as Sakuno requested, please make up with her. By tomorrow." Echizen said bluntly. Beside him, Sakuno nodded shyly.

"Yes sir." His words had come out choked and disoriented, just like how he felt.

In the course of 5 minutes, he had found out he had loved Tomoka, and he had just about ruined all chances of them being together completely.

Amidst all of the thoughts swirling around in his head, one stood out clearly.

_Man, Echizen-san sure is blunt and quick._

* * *

_Meanwhile_

"Tomoka-chan!" A young maid gestured to the head maid. "I've got something big to tell you! Guess what?" She whispered the news into Tomoka's ear.

After one sentence, Tomoka wrenched herself away and thunder shook her whole body. With one and only one thing on her mind, she stormed through the house to find Horio.

* * *

"Ah, Tomoka!" Horio's heart thudded. He had seen the pigtailed girl from behind, and his heart had immediately sped up.

He wondered how he was going to explain until she turned around.

If looks could kill, well, Horio wouldn't have been thinking this anymore.

"You. Bastard!" Horio found himself face to face with Tomoka's thundering rage, and then a mighty slap on his cheek brought him back to life.

"What the hell?" He found himself shouting for the second time that day.

"How dare you take advantage of her! You little bastard! Just wait till I get through with you…" Tomoka was on a rampage.

"What are you talking about? What did I do?" Horio yelled out frantically as fists of steel beat on his chest. Man, Tomoka sure was scary when she was mad.

"You kissed Sakuno! You still like her, don't you? I can't believe you did that!" Tomoka's eyes burnt with raging fire.

"Echizen-san made me do it!" Horio shouted quickly.

"What?" Tomoka stopped. "And how did he do that?" She glared, waiting for an explanation.

"Very simply. Like this." A deep voice called out as Horio found himself suddenly kissing Tomoka, who had fallen forward after Echizen had pushed her from behind.

And this time, he didn't jerk back immediately.

Both of them were frozen, too shocked to move away. They stared at each other.

"Eh, there were many complications and miscommunications, but in short, both of you l-love each other." A small shy voice explained.

"So, are you going to keep on pretending your lips are glued together or not?" Echizen's smirk widened as the two broke off, stunned.

"Um… here." Sakuno shyly put a key in Tomoka's hand.

"That's your new room." Echizen paused. "For the both of you." He lets this sink in.

It doesn't.

He sighed. "Gentlemen." He clapped his hands. Some burly-looking men came from nowhere and escorted/pushed Tomoka and Horio to their new room.

All their furniture and clothes have been moved. There are two twin-size beds in the spacious room. Horio and Tomoka collapsed on the two beds, looking around, still frozen with shock.

"I want to be a godfather, kids." Is the last thing they hear before Echizen closed the door.

* * *

"Ryoma-sama's quite pushy, isn't he?" Tomoka said blankly, breaking the minutes of silence between them.

"He gets what he wants, whenever he wants." Horio murmured, and reached up to touch his lips. To his horror, he blushed.

"Did you like the kiss?" Tomoka turned to face Horio, her face showing a small grin.

"Yeah." Is all Horio can say. It seemed that he was the only one still unable to process thoughts clearly.

"Well, you were horrible. I bet you haven't even kissed a girl properly yet." Tomoka teased.

"Hey!" Horio said indignantly. His red face might have been because he was embarrassed, but it also might've been because Tomoka had gotten off her bed and had started advancing towards Horio.

"Well, then." Horio could practically hear the smirk in her voice as she leaned in. He closed his eyes and gulped.

"I guess this girl with two years of kissing experience will have to teach you then."

And that was when Horio realized how beautiful miscommunications could be.


End file.
